Popular Nigerian musician Douglas Jack Agu aka Runtown, gets US stimulus payment, despite 2-year entry ban

CC™ News - By Taiwo Okanlawon 

Popular Nigerian music artiste, Douglas Jack Agu aka Runtown has disclosed that he received COVID-19 stimulus payment from the United States.

He made the announcement on Thursday morning on his social media, although he did not disclose how much the payment was.

Runtown, however, disclosed that the stimulus payment came in spite of him being banned from entering the US in the last two years.

The Mad Over You crooner further said he would be donating the package to his followers on Twitter.

Runtown

✔@iRuntown

Got Stimulus Payment from the US lol ,will share to my friends here

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12:20 AM - Apr 16, 2020

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In a series of tweets, he said, “Got Stimulus Payment from the US lol, will share to my friends here.

“Plot Twist: Been banned from the US for 2 years now.”

Runtown attended St. Augustine’s seminary Ezzamgbo for a short while before proceeding to New York City, United States to study Fashion Management at a fashion school.

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said on Twitter that it had weekend begun the disbursement of the “Economic Impact Payments” approved by Congress to help Americans cope with the impact of COVID-19.

Reports say the stimulus payments could be as much as $1,200 for an individual and $2,400 for a couple.

This newspaper could not immediately confirm if Runtown holds American citizenship or permanent residency to have qualified for the US Government stimulus payment.

Source: PM NEWS

The fruit from the tree as Nasir El-Rufai's son threatens to gangrape mother of Twitter user

Governor Nasir El-Rufai

CC™ Politico

During an argument on Twitter, Bello, one of the sons of Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, threatened to gang rape the mother of a Twitter user.  

A Twitter user by the handle name @Thanos_zer had blasted the present government, describing President Muhammadu Buhari’s alleged ineptitude as mind blowing.

He had also described Bello as "Daddy's Boy", saying, “I don’t shield anyone who’s inept. I can’t say the same about you. You’re Daddy’s boy and of course, nobody attacks the finger that feeds them. Buhari’s ineptitude is mind blowing. Yes I said and you’re not going to make me disappear.”

The comment might have angered the Governor’s son who responded to the surprise of other Twitter users, including a former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili.

Bello, whose father is currently undergoing treatment for Coronavirus, responded, “This Daddy’s boy has heard your mother ability to take d**k is mind blowing. Especially one dipped in Kerosene from Abia land.

“Sounds about fair. Despite the ineptitude, he is completing a bridge your Ebele couldn’t. You are stuck with PMB and can’t do shit. How’s failed Daddy? Oh and tell your mother that I’m passing her to my friends tonight. No Igbo sounds please! Tueh.” 

The threat drew the attention of Mrs. Ezekwesili and other Twitter users, who condemned Bello’s comment, demanding that the Governor’s son retract the comment and apologize.

Ezekwesili wrote, “@B_ELRUFAI Did I just see horrific tweets from your handle threatening gang-rape? What was that? hy the ethnic vitriol toward Igbos? What's that, Bello? Too tragic!

“You need to not just immediately apologize for those vile tweets but get into an Anger Management program quickly.

“I have maintained that we can disagree without being disagreeable. We can object without being objectionable.

Healthy debates and divergences that arise are important for democratic development of societies.”

However, Bello refused to tender any form of apology but rather accused the former Minister of being one sided in her judgement. “Finally, no apologies until he retracts his insult. If you won't train them, we will do it gladly if they enter our mentions.

If they don't, that's their business. Until then, I'd recommend you all watch Black Mirror! Happy Easter once again. Peace and love!

 “I guess I made my point. Since Aunty Oby called out one person. Progress I guess. As I told her, if you don't do that, they enter our mentions, we will do that for them. In all sincerity, this was needed. Be careful who you choose to insult. You might not like the reply,” Bello further warned.

Visionary Leadership: Turns out President Obama warned the world about being prepared for a pandemic outbreak

CC™ Politico

Former U.S. President Barack Obama talked about the need for a global preparedness for an impending (potential) pandemic at a speech in Bethesda, Maryland in 2014. Unfortunately, this was at the height of the Ebola devastation in West Africa that claimed thousands of lives, and the Republican controlled Congress was naturally uninterested, since they did not see this as an American problem. That same lack of vision steeped in bigotry and debilitating ignorance is what led the Trump administration to dismantle the Pandemic Response Unit that had been put in place by the Obama administration. Here is the Obama video, courtesy of NowThis News:

Hand in the cookie jar: Nigeria's former finance minister caught in fake news drama on social media

CC™ News

Nigeria's former finance minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was recently caught spreading fake news on social media. In a post on Twitter, Ngozi underscored a point about observing social distancing in food aid distribution in the COVID-19 era. 

She cited a purported example from Rwanda and attached a photo to underscore her point. 

“Responsible food distribution with social distancing to assist lower income households in the #COVID-19 era!"

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

✔@NOIweala

Responsible food distribution with social distancing to assist lower income households in the #COVID19 era! A great example from #Rwanda where community workers also distribute food and other necessities door-to-door @PaulKagame

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4:51 AM - Apr 8, 2020

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But as it turned out, the photo was not on point. The reference to Rwanda was also false. The event and photo she cited happened in The Gambia in 2019 during the Ramadan. ”But unfortunately, the picture attached to your tweet is fake, didn’t happen in Rwanda, but Gambia, it happened in May, last year, during Ramadan”, wrote Bashir Ahmad, President Muhammadu Buhari’s aide.

Bashir Ahmad

✔@BashirAhmaad

Good afternoon Ma’am @NOIweala, it is very true that Rwanda, Nigeria and other African countries are really trying. But unfortunately, the picture attached to your tweet is fake, didn’t happen in Rwanda, but Gambia, it happened in May, last year, during Ramadan. #StaySafe! https://twitter.com/noiweala/status/1247854465702559745 …

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

✔@NOIweala

Responsible food distribution with social distancing to assist lower income households in the #COVID19 era! A great example from #Rwanda where community workers also distribute food and other necessities door-to-door @PaulKagame

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8:12 AM - Apr 8, 2020 · Abuja, Nigeria

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Caught out and with eggs plastered on her face, Ngozi later apologised. She blamed a friend for making her commit the error. “Thanks to those who have drawn my attention to the food distribution picture I tweeted earlier today. 

A friend sent it to me that it’s from Rwanda. Whether Gambia or Rwanda, the point I want us to focus on is that it is a safe way of handling food distribution”, she wrote. Bashir later tweeted another photograph of a better food distribution by Governor Umara Zulum of Borno State. This happened in February this year. Then, Zulum gave out cash and food to Nigerian refugees in Rann.

Bashir Ahmad

✔@BashirAhmaad

Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. https://twitter.com/noiweala/status/1247953910146519042 …

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

✔@NOIweala

Thanks to those who have drawn my attention to the food distribution picture I tweeted earlier today. A friend sent it to me that it’s from Rwanda. Whether Gambia or Rwanda, the point I want us to focus on is that it is a safe way of handling food distribution.

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12:56 PM - Apr 8, 2020 · Abuja, Nigeria

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Game Changer: Australian scientists may have discovered drug that kills COVID-19 in 48 hours

CC™ HealthScope

Researchers at Monash University in Australia have stumbled on an already existing drug, Ivermectin, that kills COVID-19 within 48 hours in the laboratory and is available all over the world.

According to the researchers, a single dose of Ivermectin, which is used to treat head lice, stops the SARS-CoV-2 virus growing in cell culture. 

But the research is in its early stages and Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug, has not yet been tested on persons infected with COVID-19.

According to the Daily Mail, the next step is for scientists to determine the correct human dosage, to make sure the level used in vitro is safe for humans.

The scientists warned that it could take at least a month before human trials start.

‘We found that even a single dose could essentially remove all viral RNA (effectively removed all genetic material of the virus) by 48 hours and that even at 24 hours there was a really significant reduction in it,’ Daily Mail quotes Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute’s Dr. Kylie Wagstaff as saying last Friday.

He added: “In times when we’re having a global pandemic and there isn’t an approved treatment, if we had a compound that was already available around the world then that might help people sooner.

“Realistically it’s going to be a while before a vaccine is broadly available.’

The study is the work of Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute and the Peter Doherty Institute of Infection and Immunity.

Ivermectin was discovered in 1975 and came into medical use in 1981.

It is on the World Health Organization (WHO’s) List of Essential Medicines, the safest and most effective medicines needed in a health system.

The wholesale cost in the developing world for the tablets is about US$0.12 for a course of treatment.
Ivermectin is available around the world in its trade names Stromectol and Soolantra cream.

It has been used since the 1980s to treat and prevent diseases related to parasites in humans, pets and livestock, and works by paralysing invertebrate parasites.

Ivermectin is also a second-line treatment for scabies.

The pharmaceutical company that makes Ivermectin, MSD, has also been donating the drug to developing countries to treat the parasitic diseases river blindness and elephantiasis for the past 30 years.

When used at the recommended dose, Ivermectin is generally well tolerated. Some of the common side effects include diarrhoea, nausea, dizziness and drowsiness.

COVID-19: Nigerian doctors opposed to invitation of Chinese experts by Buhari administration

CC™ Global News

Doctors in Nigeria oppose the government inviting a Chinese medical team to help in the fight against coronavirus, local media reported on Monday. 

The government announced on Friday that an 18-member team of Chinese medical experts will arrive in Nigeria within days. 

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) criticized the invitation as “ill-timed" and inappropriate, raising concerns over the impact of a similar team to Italy, according to reports by the Daily Post and the Premium Times.

“We are profoundly dismayed to learn that the Federal Government is inviting the Chinese who from available accounts are not out of the woods themselves. The spike in cases and the death toll from COVID-19 in Italy coincided with the arrival of the Chinese in the guise of offering assistance. Even the United Nations has only just recently commended the efforts of Nigeria so far,” read the NMA statement published by the Premium Times.

It called the decision an “embarrassment” for Nigerian doctors and health workers who are fighting the pandemic “under deplorable working conditions.”

“The Association believes that this invitation is ill-timed and of no overbearing significance considering that whatever experiences the Chinese have can be shared by digital technology through conferencing,” the statement added.

“In rejecting the invitation of the Chinese doctors, the NMA would instead urge the Federal Government to review and approve better welfare incentives to the frontline medical personnel.”

The controversy comes at a time when COVID-19 cases in Nigeria are steadily rising, reaching 232 on Sunday.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, five COVID-19 patients have died in the country so far, while 33 people have recovered and been discharged from hospitals.

Since appearing in Wuhan, China, last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 183 countries and regions, according to figures compiled by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

The data shows more than 1.27 million cases have been reported worldwide so far, with the global death toll nearing 70,000, and over 264,000 recoveries.

COVID-19: Soccer great Didier Drogba slams French doctors who recommended Africa be used as a testing lab for COVID-19 drug

Soccer Great Didier Drogba with the EPL Trophy

CC™ Breaking News

Ivorian football legend, Didier Drogba has reacted to the viral video where two French doctors, Jean Paul Mira and Camille Locht opined that the new Coronavirus drug should be tested in Africa. 

Mira and Locht, who spoke on a live TV interview, which now has the highest trend on Twitter with the hashtag ‘Africans are not lab rats’ insisted that Africa is the best place to conduct such a test as they recalled how an experimental treatment for AIDS was carried out in Africa.

Drogba objected vehemently to the repugnant assertion made by the French doctors and took to his Twitter account on Friday to share a picture from the video which has gone viral, saying,” I would like to vividly denounce those demeaning, false and most of all deeply racist words.”

He said further, ”It is totally inconceivable. We keep on cautioning this; Africa isn't a testing lab. I would like to vividly denounce those demeaning, false and most of all deeply racist words. Help us save Africa with the current ongoing Covid-19 and flatten the curve. Let us save ourselves from this crazy virus that is plummeting the world economy and ravaging populations health worldwide."

"Do not take African people as human guinea pigs! It's absolutely disgusting. African leaders have a responsibility to protect their populations from those horrendous conspiracies. May God protect us.”

See the video below:

COVID-19: U.S. says that “Ultimate Game Changer” Vaccine is on the Way

CC™ Newsreel - By Gina Lee

Australia announced a $973 million package for its childcare sector. 

Japan’s government debated an economic package including ECMO machines. 

The United States is “on target” to develop a COVID-19 vaccine with biotech company Moderna within 12 to 18 months. 

As of April 1, the number of confirmed cases globally stood at 827,419 with 40,777 deaths, according to the World Health Organisation.

Australia

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced an A$1.6 billion ($973 million) package for the country’s 13,000-strong childcare sector over the next three months.

The services will be rendered free of charge as they will be paid from taxpayer subsidies.

Japan

The government is mulling the increased production of extracorporeal membranous oxygenation (ECMO) machines as part of an economic package to combat COVID-19.

The machines will replace a person’s breathing to supply oxygen and remove carbon dioxide.

United States

White House health advisor Anthony Fauci announced overnight that the first human trial to test a potential COVID-19 vaccine is on target and will be an “ultimate game changer”.

Biotech company Moderna is working with Fauci and other health officials to develop the vaccine. Human trials started on March 16.

The vaccine is estimated to be distributed within 12 to 18 months, with phase two trials expected to begin in a “few months”. 

Source: Investing.com

Travesty: Buhari allows chartered flight carrying 35 American oil workers to land in Lagos in the midst of the Covid-19 lockdown imposed on Nigerians

President Muhammadu Buhari

CC™ Nigeriaworld

Despite the temporary closure of Nigeria international airports, a chartered flight from the United States of America, a global Coronavirus hotspot, landed at the Muritala Muhummed International Airport, Lagos with 35 persons aboard. The passengers aboard the flight are Americans working with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

The chartered flight is one of the "essential flights" granted permission by the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Aviation, to land during the suspension of all commercial and private jets movements in the country due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

"The letter seeking permission to embark on the flight and land at any of the Nigerian major airports was sent to the Ministry of Aviation for approval and communicated in a letter to the various Aviation agencies to ensure seamless facilitation of the flight", a ministry official said.

After thorough screening of the American passengers by officials of the Port Health services, they departed on an Air Peace airline chartered flight to Calabar their final destination.

The Air France is expected to evacuate more people on the 2nd and 9th of April, 2020. In the coming weeks more of these evacuations are expected with the permission of the Federal Government through the Minister of Aviation as essential flights.

All international flights have been banned from coming to the country and the four major international airports in Lagos Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano closed to flight operations by the federal government.

Domestic airlines have on their own grounded flight operations across the country to help the government combat the spread of the virus. Currently, there are no flight operations in the country, but what is most troubling is that these American workers were allowed to fly into Lagos from a country that has been decimated by the Coronavirus pandemic, while Nigerians are having their movements restricted in their own country.

His Imperial Majesty Ooni of Ife reveals traditional African (Yoruba) cure for Coronavirus

His Imperial Majesty Oba Enitan Ogunwusi - Ooni of Ife

CC™ News

His Imperial Majesty, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II on Monday recommended a tested herbs for the treatment of Coronavirus pandemic.

Currently, Nigeria has recorded 131 cases of the global pandemic, which has killed over 30,000 people in three months globally.

On Monday, the Ooni recalled that a divine proclamation came out to the world last year, June 6th, 2019, during the World Ifa Festival – Otura Meji.

The statement was posted on his social media accounts. “We foretold about the impending rage of this invisible pandemic war, but few heard us”, the monarch said.

“Please note that Efod/Urim and Thurim are in the holy Books. They are the same as our ancient readings that have not failed us till date. On this throne, I work very closely with all the nations of the world most especially the nation of Cuba.

“Centuries go by, the nation of Cuba hold dearly the tenets of our ancestors (Ifá construct) and rely on the blessings of the mystery of nature, and as a result they have the best medical care in the world. They are the only country that have come out boldly to help the world.”

Ifá is a system of divination majorly practiced by the Yoruba ethnic group in Nigeria, as well as Brazil and Cuba. Also practiced as a religion, the Yoruba god, “Orunmila” is accosted the title of the Grand Priest of Ifá and regarded as the one who revealed divinity and prophecy to the world.

He stated that the Almighty is above religion and he is moving now; that the world will now respect nature wholly.

“To solve this ailment is through natural elements put together above all from nature. It has been tested!!! I have used it and also used it for some of the chronic Corona patients with testimonials.”

He challenged researchers both in Nigeria and the world to put these natural herbs into clinical medicine and extract the vaccines from it.

The chief priest and custodian of the holy city of all the Yorubas, Ile-Ife, listed the herbs as follow: 1. Yoruba (ewe akoko); English ( boundary tree); Botanical name ( Newbouldia laevis) 2. Yoruba( dogoyaro); English (nim tree or Indian lilac); Botanical (Azadirachta indica) 3. Yoruba (Alubosa); English (Onion); Botanical (Allium cepa) 4. Yoruba (Ogirisako); English (Forest anchomanes) (Blume); Botanical (Anchomanes difformis) 5. Yoruba (Aridan); English (Aridan fruit); Botanical ( Tetrapleura tetraptera) 6. Yoruba (Eeru or Erinje); English (African pepper, Guinia pepper); Botanical (Xylopia aethiopica) 7. Yoruba (Ewuro); English (Bitter leaf); Botanical (Vernonia amygdalina) 8. Yoruba (Iyin ojo); English (Sulfur)”

The Ooni further expressed readiness to work with them and provide huge access to the herbs.